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BP Oil's $200 Million Greenwashing Campaign

The New York Times examines BP/Amoco, the world's second largest oil company, and its $200 million PR and advertising campaign to greenwash its image. It is an "enormous corporate rebranding exercise, shortening its name from British Petroleum to BP, coining the slogan "Beyond Petroleum" and redesigning its corporate insignia. ... in came a green, yellow and white sunburst that seemed to suggest a warm and fuzzy feeling about the earth. ... But ... BP remains an oil company, deriving the vast majority of its profits from the black stuff that -- from drilling rig to oil tanker to refinery to gas station -- scars the earth, pollutes the air and eventually warms the planet. And once the company tried to convey its new identity in billboard form, the contradiction only deepened." As reported in PR Watch, BP has greenwashed itself by partnering with green groups including the National Wildlife Federation which allowed BP to decorate its gas stations with NWF toys and logos.